Working with Schools

The Education Department 

Each year Canterbury Cathedral is visited by 6,000 primary school children and 10,000 secondary school students from the United Kingdom. They are joined by more than 70,000 school children from Europe and around the world.

The purpose of the Schools Department is to interpret the mission of the Cathedral by providing a centre of excellence for education and learning. The Department has a staff of three and the facilities include an activity room, lunch room and an AV theatre.

With increased support we should be able to do more with young people from Kent and beyond. We are particularly keen to work with those from areas of deprivation. Even the £4.00 per pupil admission charge is too high for children at some schools to manage. A programme to provide free entry to children from the 65 schools in east Kent where more than 20 per cent of the children receive free school meals will cost £10,000 per annum over a three year period . We should then like to extend this programme further across south east England.

We would like to replace some of the equipment that is used by children when they visit Canterbury, and to update and add to our learning materials. Items can be sponsored for as little as £250, but to improve all our resources that can be used by schools both on their visit and back in the classroom will cost a total of around £90,000.